


What We Do For The Stars

by vanishedSchism



Category: Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Origins
Genre: (demons don't have binary genders either), Blood Magic, Literally everyone's an OC, M/M, Mind Control, Other, Qunari don't have your ridiculous concept of gender, Saar is also a badass, Thalia's a badass, The boys are sad and gay, but they're not getting it in this fic, mages need a break, some aren't, some templars are decent, the demon's actually way less of an asshole than they could be
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-30
Updated: 2016-06-30
Packaged: 2018-07-19 03:44:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,914
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7343458
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vanishedSchism/pseuds/vanishedSchism
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Thalia had always been a proud mage. She'd been her clan's First before she was taken by the templars and locked in Kinloch Hold for the rest of her time. </p>
<p>She was proud, yes, but mostly she wanted to go home, which meant that she never even considered messing with blood magic. The last thing she needed was a target on her back. </p>
<p>But when the unthinkable happens, Thalia realizes that she may be able to use this forbidden knowledge to save a life. She has to decide what's more important to her, freedom, or safety?</p>
            </blockquote>





	What We Do For The Stars

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone! This fic was commissioned by the lovely [greatest-dog-of-the-royal-guard](greatest-dog-of-the-royal-guard.tumblr.com), who is incredibly awesome and wanted to see a blood mage justifying using mind control in lieu of killing people. When I began writing it, it became this monster. 
> 
> Let me know what you think!
> 
> And if you're interested in commissioning me, all the info you need is in [this link](http://vanishedschism.tumblr.com/post/146335802425/writing-commissions-open)!

Thalia became a blood mage because she missed the forest.  


She hadn’t intended to get possessed, when she first arrived at the circle she had swore she would be good, she would follow the templars’ rules and hopefully one day become a senior enchanter that could visit home again. That had been the plan she came up with in the back of the wagon on the way to Kinloch hold.  


She had no idea what awaited her in the tower.  


The first day was terrifying. Besides the templars that had taken her away from her camp, the inhabitants of the tower were the first humans she had ever seen. She was smaller than everyone else she met, glared at by large men in metal armor and snapped at by shemlen hurrying through the narrow hallways with books piled in their arms. The templar that was showing her around never let go of her arm, and he talked so fast, and in a language she’d only ever spoken as practice, that she barely understood what he was trying to tell her as he shepherded her from room to room.  


When he finally left her in the dormitory, she was feeling so overwhelmed that she just stared at the empty bed she’d been deposited by. A bruise was already forming where the templar had been grabbing her.  


When she felt a hand on her shoulder she immediately turned and fired a bolt of lightning.  


“Whoah, it’s okay, I’m not going to hurt you,” the person she had tried to fry said. He was an elf, so most of her blast went right over his head, just singing the top of his curly hair. “On reflection that wasn’t the greatest idea. Anyway I’m Ryn, are you from a nearby alienage?”  


She just stared at him. Her, an _alienage_ elf? Not that she had anything against her city cousins, but she was Dalish, didn’t this flat ear see how in tune with herself and her nature she was? Did he really think she’d ever bow to the shemlen?  


Although… she had, hadn’t she? That’s why she was here after all, it’s not like her clan would have given her up.  


She didn’t realize she hadn’t answered the other elf’s question until he started speaking. “Well, I’m from Highever,” he said. “It’s really not that different here, once you get used to the templars breathing down your neck. Well, Nikol is a piece of work, but it’s not so bad really. I mean it’s not like they can arrest you for shoplifting or anything, right?”  


“No,” a shem boy yelled from the bunk above, “they just stand by your bed with a sword in their hand, looking for the first sign you succumbed.”  


The elf yelled up at his bunkmate, “Andraste’s Ass you wanker, I’m trying to _reassure_ her.”  


“I’m Dalish,” Thalia said quietly, then, she rolled back her shoulders and straightened up, saying, a little more loudly, “I’m not from an alienage. And I’m not afraid of templars.”  


The human laughed and muttered “we’ll see how long that lasts,” but the elf seemed to have given her his entire attention, leaning forward with wide eyes like a child at the storyteller’s campfire.  


“Dalish,” he said, his voice full of awe, “you mean you’re real?”  


Thalia snorted. “Of course I’m real, I’m standing in front of you, aren’t I?” Although she supposed that for a mage that didn’t mean much. Still, she was certain they weren’t in the fade now, the air smelled of dust and she could hear the breathing of the other people in the room. While her eyes may fail her, her other senses wouldn’t.  


“Yeah but you’re Dalish. I mean, your people are legends. We’ll like, talk about running away to find you, but no one ever _does_. Maker’s Breath, I thought it was a myth.”  


Thalia blinked. “You didn’t know we exist? Your entire people thought that we were nothing but stories? Var'len, I am sorry that we have failed you.”  


The city elf laughed. “Failed? Maker no, this is just wild. I figured I had a higher chance of marrying a shem noble,” he continued over a snort from the top bunk, “than ever meeting a Dalish elf. Is it true, do you know our history?”  


Thalia had to laugh. Despite being older than her, probably old enough to be considering his vallaslin if he was part of a clan, he looked at her like she was a keeper. “I was supposed to be a first, where my job is to learn the history of The People so I could keep it and pass it on to the next. ”  


“In all the stories the Dalish have tattoos all over their bodies, is that true? Are they really the words of the gods?”  


Rather than spending that first night alone, Thalia found herself explaining her culture to the curious city elf. Sometimes she would get distracted, lost in the memories of home, of men and women she would never see again and traditions she would never again take part in. When that happened, the other mage would describe his own life in the alienage. She learned that he had worked as a servant in the Cousland’s stables before being taken to the tower. He was especially interested in Halla. When he began talking about the shem nobles he worked for, the human mage descended from his bunk and added his own thoughts to the matter.  


Isaac, she learned, was the son of a leatherworker the city called Denerim. He’d discovered his magic on the same day he helped his dad make a bridle for a templar’s horse and was taken away immediately.  


That night, the three talked until the other apprentices told them to shut up, then they whispered until the sun shone through the windows. For the first time since leaving her clan, Thalia didn’t feel homesick.  


–--  


When Isaac and Ryn began thinking about their specializations, Thalia considered hers too. None of them would be able to do any original research until they were harrowed and given permission to leave the tower, but she figured that if she started now, she would reach that point sooner.  


The boys visited the library to see which books were next to each other, so that whatever their research topics were, they would always have an excuse to study together. Thalia was more interested in the research that could take her out of the tower. Visiting her clan as a Harrowed mage wasn’t the way to reconnect with them, they might not even recognize her.  


So she needed something that would keep her in the forest as long as she was conducting her research. The answer came to her later that day, when she was staring out of one of the tower’s few windows, watching the leaves sway gently in the wind. _Sylvans._  


Sylvans, the helpful trees in some forests that would confuse travelers and occasionally turn hostile visitors away from the camps, were once thought to have been elves themselves. Legends said that when one of The People’s souls were strong enough, they would inhabit the tree planted with their body and would use their new life to protect the clan.  


Looking into the creation of sylvans was the perfect excuse to find herself researching near a Dalish camp. Later that night, she, Ryn and Isaac celebrated choosing their disciplines with an impromptu trip to the kitchens. Ryn, having worked in a noble’s house, knew exactly what to say to charm the cooks into giving them the extra desserts.  


When they ran into a templar on the way to the kitchens, Isaac took the lead and actually told the man the truth about why they were out of bed. Thalia was surprised to see that it worked, the man, a human who couldn’t have been much older than Isaac, let them go at the low price of one pastry.  


With the blessing of Marcus, the patrolling templar, the three friends celebrated and ate themselves sick. Thalia was so content that no demons approached her in the fade that night.  


–--  


Ryn could always be found in the library after that, though not so much because he was doing research as because that was where Isaac was. Every once in a while, Isaac would fall asleep while reading one of his books, overwhelmed by the technical language of the notes of mages past. Ryn never looked as happy as when he was sitting with Isaac’s head in his lap, back against a bookshelf and one hand slowly threading through Isaac’s hair.  


Tonight though, Ryn was alone, and Thalia didn’t need to have known the elf for years to see that he was worried.  


“Have you seen Isaac?” he asked as soon as he noticed Thalia.  


“No, I had come up here to see if you had. He said he would help me with my fire magic.”  


Ryn smiled, but the expression didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Well I’m not quite the teacher Isaac is, but I’m pretty good at elemental magic. I can help while we wait for him.”  


“I’d appreciate that.”  


“Great, let me just put these books away. I wasn’t finding anything helpful in them anyway.”  


As Ryn stood up though, Marcus entered the room. Both mages turned to acknowledge the templar, Ryn’s hands still full of books.  


Marcus looked uncomfortable with the attention. “I uh, I’m not supposed to tell you this, but Isaac went in for his harrowing today.“  


Ryn tensed, every muscle going rigid.  


Marcus looked away. “I’m sorry Ryn. he failed.”  


There was no sound but the thump of Ryn’s books hitting the floor. Finally after about a minute of shocked silence, Ryn spoke, his voice trembling and threatening to crack. “No. No, you’re lying! He can’t fail. H-he can’t…”  


Marcus tried to put a comforting hand on Ryn’s shoulder, but Ryn flinched when he reached out.  


“I am sorry about this,” the templar said, even as the mage furiously shook his head.  


“I-I have to go,” he managed, before fleeing from the room.  


Marcus sighed. “You’ll take care of him, right Thalia? We lost a good man today and I- I don’t want us to lose another.”  


Thalia nodded and began to pick up the fallen books, unsure what to say. She felt like she’d punched in the chest by that shiny metal fist. She may not have had the relationship Ryn had with Isaac, but she did love him. They were both her clan, and to watch her family so casually ripped apart like that… Marcus, for all his good intentions, couldn’t fathom the pain.  


–--  


Thalia didn’t see Ryn again until she was already in bed. Most of the other apprentices had fallen asleep by the time Ryn snuck into the room, not needing a light to guide him. Thalia watched as he  


That night, when she entered the fade, she wasn’t given two minutes along before she was approached by a demon. The creature didn’t even try to hide its nature, floating up to her on the darkness that spilled out of its cloak and obscured its face. Its presence seemed to compress the air around it, making it hard to breathe.  


The feeling, the despair, drove Thalia to her knees. She wasn’t sure she’d ever be able to get up, the weight of everything she’d lost just felt like too much. The last time she had seen her family she was just a child. Her baby fat hadn’t fallen away yet. Even if she did ever manage to leave this damn tower, her clan probably wouldn’t even recognize her. It’s not like she had vallaslin. Dirmathen probably didn’t even acknowledge her as one of The People.  


She tried to take a deep breath, but it almost immediately broke into a sob.  


She would never get back home, never escape the tower, never see the trees again. What was the point if every day she would struggle for an impossible goal?  


Somewhere, in the back of her mind, she realized that this was being caused by a demon, but Thalia couldn’t find the strength to do anything about it.  


“You’ve targeted the wrong victim,” a silky smooth voice said from somewhere far away. The one who drew you here is over there.”  


Thalia felt the overwhelming presence fade, and suddenly she could breathe again. She wasted no time in getting to her feet. As soon as she was up, she saw the owner of the voice, the spirit that had rescued her.  


“You miss your family,” it said. “You want someone whose pain will drive you to your knees, whose death will throw you into inescapable despair.”  


Thalia lifted her chin, making sure to meet the spirit’s eyes. “You say that as if it’s a bad thing.”  


“Not at all, Darling. I think it’s cute.”  


Thalia didn’t respond.  


The spirit sighed. “You’re caught between two desires. You want to help your friend and you want to see your family. Oh there’s no point denying it, I can taste your desire in the air. I’ll rescue him for you.”  


“And I’m meant to believe you would do that out of the goodness of your heart? I am not as easily fooled as some prey, Spirit.”  


“Spirit,” the creature said, sounding surprised. “Do not mistake my nature, mage. I am not here to help you. Not without a price.”  


Thalia smiled. “Good, I don’t trust people who give without expecting something in return.”  


“Mmm, that does seem lonely,” the creature said, leaning in to stroke her cheek with one long claw. Thalia didn’t lean toward it, but she didn’t lean away either. The truth was, she was lonely, and as much as she wanted to stay and help [], she missed her people more than ever. She wanted, no, she needed to leave this tower, to feel the pine needles under her feet and the sun on her skin again. She would do a lot for that opportunity.  


“I will teach you my ways,” the spirit continued, seeing that it had caught her interest, “tutor you in the power of persuasion. And in return,” the spirit leaned in, lips almost close enough to kiss, each word burning against Thalia’s skin, “you will give yourself to me,” one hand traced down her side to rest on her thigh, “body and soul.”  


Thalia knew that if she kissed the spirit it would seal the deal, she would give herself up to this creature of the fade and either be immediately killed by a templar or finally escape this prison. She wanted that, she wanted to lean in and press their bodies together, feel the spirit’s lips on hers…  


“No.” Thalia pulled away. “I value my soul. Besides, if you’re teaching me, you shouldn’t need to possess me. I can use my own power.”  


The spirit of desire pulled away. “I suppose you could use your pitiful power. But there will come a time when you need more than your simple body can provide-“  


“-And when that time comes I will call on you. _If_.” She paused, meeting the spirit’s eyes to make sure it acknowledged her condition. “So long as I get one command that as long as you possess my body, you must honor. Otherwise you leave, never to return.”  


The spirit considered for a moment, then held out its hand. Thalia shook it, clasping the spirit’s arm at the same time its claws dug into hers. She gasped as she began to bleed, and the spirit disappeared from the fade.  


–--  


When Thalia woke up, the first thing she did was look at her arm. As expected, there were three new marks there, right where the creature’s claws had dug in. She took a deep breath. She was a blood mage now, abhorrent to the world and a danger to everyone she met. She took a deep breath and adjusted her sleeve to make sure it covered the mark.  


Really, this just solidified her plan. She had to leave the tower. If she didn’t, she’d be found out and killed. She couldn’t do that to Ryn and she definitely wouldn’t do that to herself.  


_“So you have a plan”_ , the spirit whispered in her mind. _“But before we get started, I do have a promise to fulfill._ ” Thalia felt Desire’s presence retreat. A moment later, Ryn woke with a scream that sent no less than two templars running to his bedside. Thalia jumped out of her own bed and snarled at them both, “he’s clearly terrified, back off before you make it worse.”  


To her surprise, they both took a couple of steps back, though one of them kept his hand on his sword. Ignoring the prickling of the new marks on her arm, Thalia walked past the templars and sat on the edge of Ryn’s bed.  


He looked at her, his cheeks wet and blotchy, and she responded by pulling him into a tight hug, running her hand through his hair as he sobbed into her shoulder. Eventually, once they had satisfied themselves that he wasn’t a threat, the templars left, giving the mourners some semblance of privacy.  


“H-he was too good for this fucking prison,” Ryn said, a while after the templars had gone, “he b-believed in something better…”  


“I know, I know. May his spirit find peace where it couldn’t in life.”  


Ryn sobbed a little longer. After a while though, he quieted, and then his breathing evened out.  


Thalia fell asleep with him in her arms.  


–--  
The next day, Ryn was barely functional. The Senior Enchanters let it go, either they knew what had happened or could easily guess, but the looks the templars were giving him were concerning Thalia.  


After accidentally exploding an apple when he was supposed to just heal the skin, Ryn attracted the attention of a particularly nasty templar. Nikol. His attitude hadn’t improved in the years Thalia had known him, and she was almost positive he would harass Ryn about demons after that performance.  


He waited until the class was over, but he moved to loom over Ryn’s desk as soon as the apprentices started emptying out of the classroom.  


“You seem distracted,” he hissed, “almost as if there’s someone else in your head.”  


Ryn looked up at him. “What, you mean like a demon? I wish. If I was possessed, at least I wouldn’t be alone with my thoughts-“  


“Ryn” Thalia broke in, “just the mage I was looking for! I was looking into a book about Sylvans spotted in the area surrounding Highever and I was wondering if any of the riders you interacted with had weird stories you could relay.” She smiled even as she glared daggers at Nikol.  


Luckily, he got the message and walked away with nothing but a muttered, “I’ll be watching you, kid.”  


–--  


Thalia decided to do something to help Ryn that night. She told him to meet her outside the main doors of the tower. When he asked how he’d get out, she just told him she’d clear the way for him. Now she was pressed against the cold, stone, wall of the corridor two away from the door, waiting for the patrolling to make his rounds. She hoped this would work,  


_“Do you doubt my abilities, Mage?”_  


Thalia took a deep breath. No, she believed the spirit was as powerful as it said, but if she messed this up and accidentally exposed herself, she was dead without a word.  


She didn’t have time to contemplate her doom though, because the templar was walking towards her. She could feel the mana gathering around her and suddenly she knew what to do. Even before the templar rounded the corner, she was moving her fingers, glowing with the faintest red, and suddenly she felt the man’s mind. It was Marcus.  


_“I don’t want to hurt him,”_ she told Desire.  


_“Don’t worry Darling,”_ the spirit said.  


Thalia’s fingers moved on their own accord, stretching a little here and pulling a little there. Before she knew it, she heard the templar walking away, and she knew she had done that.  
“Dirthamen watch over me,” she murmured. Then she walked towards the large doors that kept all the mages in the tower and used her magic to convince the templars guarding them to abandon their posts. She slipped through, leaving one door cracked open so Ryn could follow.  


–--  


Half an hour later, Ryn joined her by the edge of the lake that encircled the tower. She could see the deep circles under his eyes even in the darkness.  


It was pointless to ask if he was okay. He wasn’t. Neither of them were, really. Instead, Thalia stepped forward and hugged him, letting him squeeze her ribs until she could barely breathe. When he was done, he pulled away.  


“I don’t know about you, but I always feel better when I can see the sky.”  


Ryn faced the water, and his hands curled into fists. “Marcus doesn’t know what they did with his body,” he said, “he’s trying to find out, but they could have burned it, or buried it, or thrown it to the fucking dogs! They don’t keep records!” he yelled, throwing an icicle at the lake.  


“I can mute the sound for you,” Thalia said, already casting as she moved to stand next to him.  


Ryn screamed and released a cone of cold so powerful that it froze half the lake. Then he did it again, screaming and throwing spears of ice as Thalia kept the sound barrier up so they wouldn’t attract unwanted attention.  


She wasn’t sure how long they stayed like that, but by the time Ryn finished, panting as snowflakes fell from his fingers, most of the lake was covered in ice, thick enough that a light human could probably run across it. Or an elf…  


“Ryn,” Thalia said, speaking before she could really think about what she was saying, “we could leave.”  


Ryn looked at her, confusion shining in his red-rimmed eyes, and Thalia pointed at the frozen lake.  


“We could leave,” she repeated, excitement making her voice rise. “We could run across the lake and destroy the path behind us!”  


“You could.”  


“What?”  


Ryn looked away. “I can’t leave. I can’t spend the rest of my life on the run I just… I can’t Thalia, I’m sorry.”  


“Ryn-“  


“Go. I know you want to. I-I know you _need_ to. I’ll cover for you, hold things down here, maybe tutor some apprentices,” he smiled, small, but genuine. “I don’t have anything to return to, you do.”  


Thalia bit her lip as she looked at Ryn, and then across the frozen lake. Desire flared within her, so strong that she was concerned she was going to start glowing.  
–--  


A week later, she was beginning to regret her hasty decision. She hadn’t looked for her clan because she was afraid of leading the templars right to the camp. She didn’t know what they’d do if they found a non-Circle trained First, but she didn’t trust that many _humans_ around her home, much less _templars_.  


And because they had her phylactery, even if she managed to lose the group currently tailing her, there was no way to lead them astray forever. Short of killing them, she supposed…  


To date, she’d used two strategies to keep the templars away, sneaking into their camp at night and enchanting one to take her phylactery and walk far away, as far as she could make them, and trying to lose them in hoards of darkspawn.  


She’d chosen the second option today and, as she sat in her tree sniping the abominations with precisely aimed Lightning Bolts, when she heard yelling in the distance. Thalia immediately extinguished her magic and held her breath.  


To her surprise, she saw a burst of fire in the distance.  


Glancing at the two or three darkspawn left alive at the base of her tree, Thalia jumped to a slightly lower branch on a neighboring tree. She traveled through the trees toward the fire, hoping she wasn’t running straight into a templar’s trap.  


–--  


It definitely wasn’t a templar causing the fire. Thalia wasn’t sure, because she’d only seen a couple of hastily sketched illustrations in books, but she thought it was a Qunari mage. Certainly they were large, with grey skin and delicately sharp horns swooping behind their head. And they were in chains- the shackles on their wrists were almost as large as Thalia’s head.  


Oh, and there was the vortex of fire they were spinning around themselves. Thalia helped snipe a couple of darkspawn, but the Qunari mage had killed most of them already. When there was nothing but charred corpses on the ground, Thalia jumped out of her tree.  


“That was some impressive magic,” she said.  


The qunari immediately jumped back. “I-I lost control, I didn’t mean to do that. Oh no, Arvaarad is going to kill me.”  


“You don’t have to worry,” Thalia said, walking forward with her hands up, “you didn’t hurt anyone. We can work this out.”  


The Qunari shook their head, “no, no I have to return and face what I’ve done.”  


“What, use magic?”  


“Exactly! Without supervision! And now I’ve talked to you. Oh they’re going to kill you too. I’m so sorry I didn’t mean for this to happen I just got separated and those darkspawn were attacking and Arvaarad wasn’t there and I was so scared-“  


Thalia was certain they would have gone on, but they had to pause to breathe.  


“Are those chains because you’re a mage?” she asked  


“Yes. I am Saarebas, dangerous thing.”  


“You’re kidding.”  


“And you’re Bas Saarebas, dangerous thing not of the Qun,” they continued.  


“I certainly will be if any of those assholes try to come after me,” Thalia snarled, already feeling the sparks gathering at her fingertips. “You can’t possibly think they’re _right_ , can you? Don’t you want to leave them?”  


Thalia pulled gently at the saarebas’ arm, but they stayed rooted to the spot.  


“Please stop! If you run now, you can make it, Arvaarad doesn’t have to know I met you, you can leave.”  


“And let him kill you?”  


The qunari hung their head. “I don’t want to die, but that’s what the Qun demands.”  


Thalia blinked, unwilling to dismiss the electricity still sparking at her hands in case this Avaarad came for them. “That sounds like bullshit to me. Listen, I’ve lived my entire life being told I’m dangerous, and one of their shem-maker’s mistakes or some crap but when they need someone to slaughter darkspawn, who do they turn to? It’s us, because we’re awesome, and better than any templar or Arvaarad says.”  


The saarebas looked away.  


“Hey,” Thalia said. “Let me get you out of those cuffs, and that mask, I’d like to see your eyes.”  


The qunari mage still didn’t say anything, but they held their hands towards Thalia.  


_“Desire?”_ Thalia called in her mind, _“you can help with this, right?”_  


_“Oh look, the mage is finally starting to trust my power. Put your hands over the lock, I will melt it.”_  


Thalia did as the spirit bade her. “Hold still,” she told the qunari. She continued talking as her hands heated up, letting Desire direct her mana. “You deserve freedom is what I’m saying, everyone does. Um by the way, you said all your mages are called Saarebas, right? Can I call you Saar, is that okay?”  


“I suppose I am Tal-vashoth now, so I can claim a new name,” the qunari said as Thalia took her hands away and they broke the weakened metal with a swift motion, “I like Saar.”  


Thalia smiled. “Okay, I’m going to need to climb on your back to get the mask off. Just hold still.”  


Once again, Thalia found the clasp and began heating it up, talking as she did. “So Tal-vashoth is what, an outlaw?”  


“Yes, my people will hunt me and anyone I take the companionship of.”  


Thalia laughed. “Well hey, welcome to the club. I’m an apostate, so same here.”  


“So you’ll be killed regardless of my involvement?”  


Thalia hummed as she finished channeling and was finally able to remove the heavy mask. “That’s one way to think about it.”  


She dropped the metal to the ground, then jumped down herself. “But I prefer to think of it as us having a common goal, not to get killed by assholes who can’t deal with magic.  


“That does seem like a good goal…” Saar said. Thalia was right, they did have pretty eyes.  


–--  


They had relative peace for a couple of days. A couple of darkspawn, but once Saar and Thalia decided to start traveling together, they hadn’t been bothered by any qunari or templars.  


At least, not until the evening of the third day. Saar heard them first, but it was Thalia who identified their pursuers.  


“Templars,” she said, casting a worried glance at Saar. They were out of the forest, and there was no real cover in sight. “At least five of them. That’s more than last time.” She bit her lip. “They may know my abilities.”  


“I-I don’t want to hurt anyone,” Saar said, although they were already beginning to gather fire in their hands. Thalia covered one of Saar’s hands with her own tiny one, prompting the qunari to immediately dismiss the flames.  


“I wouldn’t ask you to,” Saar said, “but they know my patterns, I won’t be able to outrun them.”  


“You! Apostate! Stop right there!” One of the templars yelled, now close enough to be seen.  


Thalia stepped in front of Saar, her body humming with mana. As if she could possibly protect the qunari with her tiny body. Still, she was ready to fight every one of those templars Hand to Hand if it gave Saar a chance to get away.  


“Saar, I’m going to hold them off. If I start to falter though,” she took a deep breath. What she was about to say went against everything she believed, everything she had worked for since deciding on her field of study in the Circle. “If I start to falter, you have to leave. I’ll hold them off as long as I can.”  


“I-I shouldn’t be-“  


Saar’s protest was cut off by the arrival of the templars. Thalia murmured a quick prayer to Dirthamen, asking him to protect her so that she could find her way back to her family when this was over, then drew her knife and cut her arm.  


“Run!” she screamed as soon as the blood began to well out, and she felt the pressure at the back of her mind, and the silky smooth voice of her inhabitant whispered in her ear, _“You’ve crossed the line, my sweet.”_  


Thalia’s chest constricted, but she managed to force out the command she had been promised. “No killing.”  


_“You’re no fun,”_ Desire said. It sighed. _“But we did make a deal._ ”  


And then she was gone, pushed to the back of her mind to watch as the spirit piloted her body.  


The first thing Desire did was fashion a latticed wall out of Thalia’s blood. It hardened in the air, forming an effective, if temporary, barrier against the attacking templars.  


Next, the spirit lit up with red, and reached for the biggest templar, reaching into his mind with a claw of blood magic. His eyes filled red as it took control and began using the templar to attack his fellows.  


_“No killing!”_ Thalia reminded.  


Desire merely hissed and moved the templar so his sword went for knees instead of necks.  


Before long though, her puppet found himself in a duel with another templar- one better trained than Desire.  


It didn’t take Thalia long to realize what was wrong. Desire was using too much energy. It may have far more power than Thalia herself, but it was still using the mortal and mostly untrained body. It couldn’t fight a duel and hold off four templars at the same time, even if it actually had that power, Thalia would burn out before Desire could remove the threat.  


She winced when a templar’s sword came whistling through the air, faster than Desire could get out of the way. It crashed through the hardened blood barrier and the blade, barely slowed, forced Thalia’s body to its knees, the templar’s blade buried in the shoulder. Thalia felt Desire’s fear as keenly as she felt her body’s pain. Just as she felt Desire gathering mana for one desperate shot. She considered stopping the spirit, she didn’t think it realized what the consequences of such power would be, but if her body fainted, it would give Saar a chance to run, so she kept her mouth shut.  


Desire continued gathering mana uninterrupted. Finally, when it felt it was ready, Desire gathered the energy in a spectral hand and closed it into a fist. Two of the five templars immediately fell to the ground unconscious. Shortly followed by Thalia’s body.  


Thalia felt Desire’s weakened control as she looked at her fallen body and she knew that she could take back her place as the primary consciousness if she tried. She had do something first though. She looked with a sense that was more like something she would use in the fade than a real thing her body could do, and tried to find Saar.  
To her horror, the qunari mage was still there, right behind her. And they were gathering mana.  


_No!_ She tried to scream. _Leave me! Save yourself!_  


But of course Saar couldn’t hear her. Instead of heeding her advice, they stepped forward and released all the mana they had gathered in a blast of energy that knocked every templar off their feet. Then they lifted up Thalia’s body and ran.  


The danger averted, Thalia let go of her awareness and fell into unconsciousness.  


—--  


“Thalia?”  


Thalia tried to form words, something along the lines of ‘yes, it’s alright, I’m fine,’ but all she could manage was a long groan.  


“Oh no, I didn’t hurt you, did I?”  


“Darling,” Thalia managed, “you saved my life.”  


“Well yes, but you’re very injured and I was moving so fast I thought I’d opened your wound further…”  


“Help me sit?”  


Saar immediately moved to Thalia’s side and helped her prop herself up against a tree. Before she could leave though, Thalia stopped her with a hand on her arm.  


“Saar.”  


“Yes?”  
“You’re a good person. You care more about people than a lot of those I’ve met, mages or not. It’s hard now, but you’ll learn to control your magic. You can use it for good. You’re good.”  


Saar laughed, a sweet, tinkling sound. “You must be delirious. I should find you a doctor.”  


“I’m serious Saar.”  


Saar just gently tucked a strand of hair that had fallen in Thalia’s face behind her ear. “Just rest Thalia, you can compliment me later.”  


“Consider it done,” Thalia murmured, suddenly feeling the weight of everything that had happened in the past hour. She was not only injured, but completely drained of mana and the pounding headache she’d woken up with was threatening to knock her out. She leaned against Saar’s shoulder.  


They were right, there would be plenty of time to talk later. Time to talk about magic and possession and… feelings. Until then though, she would take Saar’s advice. She closed her eyes and entered the fade.


End file.
